3 shot at Houston-area community college

Three people were wounded Tuesday at a Lone Star College campus in the Houston area when one man opened fire on another during an argument, also hitting bystanders, authorities said.

A fourth person was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.

Jed Young, executive director of communications for Lone Star College, told CNN that two people apparently began shooting at each other in an academic building on campus.

One of the shooters and two bystanders, both students, were wounded, Young said. One shooter was taken into custody, the other fled campus and was being sought.

KHOU-TV quoted a student, Brittany Mobley, as saying "two dudes basically get into an altercation" and one shot the other.

The station quoted one of its campus reporters as saying one of the injured was taken from the library while apparently handcuffed to a stretcher.

One suspect has been detained, said Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Gilliland.

Although police feel the danger on campus had been "mitigated," Young said, officers were searching for a second suspect who fled to a nearby development area.

He was described as a black male, 18 to 20 years of age wearing a red shirt and Falcons cap.

The shooting occurred around 12:20 p.m. CT (1:30 p.m. ET) at the North Harris campus, about 20 miles north of downtown Houston, one of six that serves the 90,000 students enrolled in the community college system.

Reginald Neal said his nephew, Jody Neal, 24, was one of the wounded.

"All I know he got shot three times. That's all I know," he told KPRC-TV. "He got shot in one of his arms, in the stomach and the leg."

"He was sitting in the study room. There (were) three people on the computer and a guy walked up the stairs and opened fire on him," said Stacy Neal, Jody's sister. "They said it was just one guy that came in with a gun."

Cody Harris, 20, said he was in a classroom with about six or seven other students waiting for a psychology class to start when he heard eight shots. He and other students looked at each other, said, "I guess we should get out of here," and fled.

"I was just worried about getting out," Harris said. "I called my grandmother and asked her to pick me up."

KPRC-TV quoted a student, Amanda Vasquez, as saying she heard "5 or 6" shots while sitting in English class. She said students quickly scrambled, hiding under desks.

An alert on the college's website called on students, faculty and staff "take immediate shelter where you are."

Aerial footage from local television stations showed police cars and ambulances parked on the campus. Emergency personnel could be seen tending to people on stretchers, while others ran from a building led by officers.

Four nearby schools - Nimitz High School, Nimitz Ninth Grade School, Dunn Elementary School, Parker Intermediate School - were placed on lockdown in the immediate aftermath of the Lone Star College shooting, said Mike Keeney, a spokesman with the Aldine Independent School District.

The schools are located less than a mile from the Lone Star College campus where the shooting occurred, he said. The lockdown lasted for about three hours and impacted some 4,600 students, he said. Extra security guards were dispatched to the schools.

The schools reopened around 3:30 p.m. CST, and students were allowed to leave, Keeney said. "You never take anything like this lightly," he said.

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Lone Star Community college in the Houston is on lockdown after at least 3 people were reportedly shot, KHOU-TV reports, quoting a deputy constable.

The condition of the victims was not immediately clear.

An alert on the college's website called on students, faculty and staff "take immediate shelter where you are."

KHOU reported that one person is in custody and that officers are searching for a second suspect at large.

KHOU, quoting one of its college reporters, said that one male was seen being taking out of the library on a stretcher.